By popular demand, today I bring you a recipe for traditional Mexican soft corn tortillas that contain only corn flour, plus water and optionally salt and aren’t as difficult to make as you might have been led to believe. After I published my last recipe for easy vegan fajitas , I got inundated with messages on all channels asking for me to publish my tortilla recipe, so I am happy to oblige.
The ingredients are really simple although you do need to source instant corn flour, which unless you live near a Mexican store, may require you to search online. There is no replacement for it that I’m aware of, I am afraid. I got mine from a Mexican store in town and I have a confession to make. I bought a few kilos of it and I forgot about it for a while so the flour I am currently using is 6 months out of date – I know, daredevil me! It’s been kept in a dry, dark cupboard, there are no aliens in it and it tastes absolutely fine so rather than binning it and buying a new one, I simply used what I had. I’m not saying go out there and get an out of date corn flour 😉 , but if you happen to have a bit of a break in your tortilla consumption and your flour gets a touch old, it should be fine to use provided it smells and looks fine and it’s not a home to a family of flour beetles, of course. So yes, the ingredients are very straightforward and so is the process, although it requires a little time to get the hang of it, which you will, I promise you. Another three essentials when it comes to making corn tortillas are tortilla press, comal and a tortilla warmer but there are ways around all three. So if you don’t have a tortilla press, you can simply use a heavy cast iron pan to squash them down or a rolling pin to finish the job. If you don’t have a comal – I don’t – use a heavy bottomed, cast iron frying pan or skillet. And finally, a tortilla warmer can really be improvised. You want something insulated that traps heat in. I wrap my tortillas in a clean kitchen towel and then put them in a small cool bag that I got with something cold I purchased once. It works a treat, as would a warm sleeping bag (eccentric but it works 😉 ) or a Dutch oven heavily lined with insulating material like bubble wrap. Get creative and certainly don’t go out and buy the proper gear unless you are committed to making tortillas again and again and again. Right, so with all of this housekeeping out of the way, let’s move on to the nitty gritty of tortilla making. I will give you all the tips I have learned myself and I hope you’ll enjoy the process and the end result of your hard labour.
PRESSING COOKING
